NIU to introduce president today

By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI
Shaw News Service

DeKALB – You can meet Northern Illinois University’s next president today.

University officials have not announced who the Board of Trustees is expected to hire as NIU’s 12th president at a special meeting today, but all community members, faculty, staff and students are invited to a welcome ceremony immediately afterward.

The new leader has been expected to start July 1, as NIU President John Peters announced Oct. 12 that he will retire June 30.

The business meeting will be in Room 315 of Altgeld Hall, while the reception will be in Altgeld Auditorium. The ceremony will be from 1:45 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday; the president’s remarks begin at 2 p.m. Altgeld Hall is located near the intersection of Castle Drive and College Avenue.

The decision comes about a week after NIU trustees met four finalists off-campus in a closed meeting March 22.

On March 23, small groups of faculty, staff, alumni and foundation board members, as well as community leaders, met with the final four. Those meetings also were closed, with participants signing confidentiality agreements.

The finalists were selected from 10 people who met in closed session with the presidential search advisory committee at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont. The 28-member search committee spent about 90 minutes interviewing the 10 finalists, who were selected from 48 candidates.